Broad or brief?

It has been reported that many newspapers have been changing from Broadsheet formats to Tabloid formats, for example, the Asian Wall Street Journal. In Singapore, the main English language paper (the one with the highest circulation) is sticking to its broadsheet format although some have questioned whether it should not change that format. Its closest competitor, Today, published by Mediacorp, has been a tabloid from day 1, and it is making money despite it being distributed free of charge.

I must admit that after more than a year on Today's diet, I am getting rather weary with Broadsheets. I find myself getting very impatient with news reported in the Straits Times nowadays because the stories are just *too long*. It used to be that I would devour the paper from cover to cover and read the stories from beginning to end. (hmmm...don't these 2 expressions mean the same thing?) I think I am getting spoilt on tabloids.

The other reason is that my daily diet of newspapers now consists solely of Today during weekdays. I don't read the Straits Times anymore on weekdays, though I still buy the paper on weekends (if only because Today is not published on Sundays). Actually, the reason I stopped reading the Straits Times is not because of free alternatives such as Today, though that plays a part. What really made me give up the Straits Times, which I have been reading for 30 years, is the last price increase of 20 cents a copy, from 60 cents (a whopping 33%). I could not reconcile this with good and free alternatives. Now I am used to not reading the Straits Times, although I must admit that it still has good content. But I just don't have time to read more than one paper.